Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 154

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 153. An Evil Martial Artist Stains Hua Shan with Blood—Part 3
The memory of that day remained vivid in his mind even now.
How could he forget? That day, an indelible mark had been seared into his left cheek. Even when he wanted to forget, the scar would show itself every time he stood before a mirror. And then the memory would return.
That morning had been unusually crisp. So he had gone about his plundering in high spirits. He hadn’t chosen any particular target. It was merely a village he happened upon while passing the foot of Taebaek Mountain that became his mark.
He had killed quite a few people and seized a good deal of goods.
The problem came during the last house. The father fought back so tenaciously with his bow, and then his son rushed at him with a kitchen knife.
While his attention was divided by the father, the son had slashed his face with the blade. And as if that weren’t enough, the boy had bitten through his subordinate’s throat, killing him on the spot.
Such a vicious whelp had never existed. So he had made sure. Killed him so he would never rise again.
Yet strangely, he could not recall the boy’s face. Perhaps he had instinctively wished to forget that hateful day.
Now, face to face with Dam Ho, the forgotten memory came roaring back into vivid focus.
“Yes, yes… you’re that little bastard…”
“I’ve been waiting to see you.”
“Ngh—!”
Jo Yun San’s face twisted hideously.
Even in that moment, the Hell Blood Snake was burrowing through every part of his body.
“I hope you like it. I prepared it just for you.”
When Dam Ho had escaped that hellish underground space, he had caught the Hell Blood Snake and carried it out in a clay vessel made of mud. After his escape, he had transferred it to a proper container and kept it carefully all this time.
The moment Dam Ho felt the most intense pain in his life was when he had been bitten by the Hell Blood Snake.
He wanted Jo Yun San to feel that same pain.
An unbearable itch that made it feel as though his skin needed to be peeled away completely, and the flesh between his muscles torn open—it was the kind of agony that drove a person mad.
Red blotches appeared across Jo Yun San’s face. It was proof that the venom of the Hell Blood Snake was spreading.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
Jo Yun San let out a tremendous scream and clawed at his entire body with his nails. But no matter how much he scratched, the itching would not cease.
He scratched and scratched. His skin peeled away, exposing the raw flesh beneath, blood streaming freely. Yet Jo Yun San did not stop—he kept scratching.
“Please, save me!”
Jo Yun San wept as he begged. But Dam Ho merely watched in silence.
The sound of tearing flesh echoed sickeningly through the air.
Skin was being ripped away, muscle was being shredded.
The sight of Jo Yun San in such a state was enough to fill all who watched with terror.
They wanted to help Jo Yun San, but Dam Ho stood in their way.
At this very moment, an ominous aura radiated from Dam Ho’s body.
All of them could sense instinctively that if anyone so much as touched him, an unbearable calamity would descend upon them.
“I… I…”
Yun Chung clenched his teeth.
Before his very eyes, Jo Yun San was thrashing in agony. Yet there was nothing he could do to help.
‘Where did such an inhuman monster crawl out from…?’
The Jianghu sometimes brings forth beings beyond all convention.
They thoroughly denied all previous understanding and opened entirely new paths forward. And it was through such individuals that the Jianghu underwent great transformations.
Yet such figures were exceedingly rare—throughout the entire history of the Jianghu, there had been only a handful.
‘Could it be… is he one of those beings? One whose very existence could bring change to the Jianghu itself…?’
Yun Chung found his fists clenching without his knowing it.
Even as he thought this, Jo Yun San continued to scream for his life, clawing frantically at his entire body.
Even as he peeled away his skin and scraped at the flesh beneath, the maddening itch showed no sign of abating. Rather, as the venom spread further, the itching only intensified.
He had screamed so much that his voice had grown hoarse—barely audible now.
‘If only I could stop this itching…’
He would sell his very soul.
Jo Yun San stared at Dam Ho with bloodshot eyes.
“Please, kill me… you demon.”
“You don’t get to die so easily. That would be a waste.”
“Ngh—!”
“Endure it stubbornly. I did.”
“Hgh!”
“At first, I suffered as if I were dying. But I endured, and endured, and then one day I realized it had become bearable. You can reach that point too, I’m sure.”
At Dam Ho’s words, Jo Yun San gritted his teeth.
‘If he survived it, then so can I.’
A glimmer of hope kindled in him. But reality was hell. His hands still clawed at his entire body without mercy. He had lost so much blood that a pool of it was accumulating on the ground.
His chances of survival were less than one in ten. Until his final breath, he would continue clawing at himself. And then, at some point, that breath would stop.
Dam Ho gazed down at him for a moment, then rose to his feet.
At last, his revenge was complete. Yet strangely, he felt little satisfaction.
There was no sense of catharsis, no feeling of relief. He had simply finished what needed to be done.
Dam Ho’s gaze turned toward Yun Chung. But Yun Chung only furrowed his brow, refusing to back away.
“Since when?” Dam Ho asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Since when has the Demon Cult been hiding in Nokrim?”
“How could you possibly know that?”
In that instant, Yun Chung’s pupils trembled violently, as though seized by an earthquake. Dam Ho’s words—ones Yun Chung had never anticipated—were carving into his chest like a Poisoned Dagger.
“You said it yourself when you summoned the Dark Demons. You called them the Demon Cult’s elite.”
“Surely you didn’t… eavesdrop on my Telepathic Communication?”
Dam Ho offered no answer. Yet Yun Chung was certain his suspicion was true. Somehow—impossibly—Dam Ho could intercept the Telepathic Communications of others.
“You truly are dangerous,” Yun Chung said quietly.
In that moment, his eyes transformed.
Gone was the meekness and panic of before. It was as though another person had taken his place—his gaze turned glacial, radiating a killing intent that filled the air.
The one most startled by Yun Chung’s metamorphosis was Hwang Gyeong Moon.
“Y-Yun Chung! You truly are one of the Demon Cult?”
“Hah! It would have been better if you’d simply died in ignorance. Yes. I am the Grand Master of the Dark Demons of the Demonic Cult.”
“This cannot be!”
Hwang Gyeong Moon’s whiskers quivered with rage.
Until today, Yun Chung had been the brother he trusted above all others. In managing Nokrim, Hwang Gyeong Moon had consulted with him on every detail, and had even ceded considerable authority into his hands.
Yun Chung had formed his connection with Hwang Gyeong Moon thirty years ago. Which meant the Demon Cult had burrowed into Nokrim the moment they lost the war.
“What have you been doing in Nokrim all this time?” Hwang Gyeong Moon demanded.
“Building my strength while using you as my shield. As everyone knows, our Sect was devastated and enfeebled after losing that war.”
When the victors of that conflict swept through the martial realm, they slaughtered Demon Cult warriors without mercy. Young Yun Chung, hunted by these Jianghu assassins, had fled to Nokrim with a handful of followers.
There, sheltered by Nokrim’s name, they had quietly cultivated their power and expanded their influence.
Hwang Gyeong Moon, that outstanding martial master, had been the perfect blindfold. While everyone’s eyes were fixed on his magnificent prowess, Yun Chung had secretly consolidated control within Nokrim’s ranks.
Thirty years had passed in this manner, and by now Yun Chung commanded a substantial portion of Nokrim’s strength.
“You were the one who incited Jo Yun San.”
“He showed promise. He harbored resentment toward you as well. Turning him was hardly difficult.”
A thin smile played across Yun Chung’s lips. The sight of it flooded Hwang Gyeong Moon with self-reproach.
“How bitter the truth. I was nothing but a puppet.”
“It is not your failing. I was simply that capable. There is no need for you to torment yourself with shame.”
Yun Chung no longer bothered with deference or concealment. Now that the veil was torn away, he had resolved to reveal himself fully.
His gaze shifted to Dam Ho.
“And you—how dare you dismantle thirty years of my grand design. I will never forgive you.”
A viscous killing intent flowed from his entire body, spreading through the air like poison.
This was Yun Chung as Nokrim had never seen him.
Hwang Gyeong Moon’s complexion drained to ashen white.
The Martial Prowess radiating from Yun Chung was in no way beneath his own. The martial skill attributed to Yun Chung in public was merely first-rate, nothing more.
He had been known as a brilliant strategist rather than a martial master—a careful deception, nothing less.
“I will shatter every bone in your body and grind them to dust.”
Crack!
The terrible Qi Aura emanating from him shattered objects throughout the chamber. In its wake, unfamiliar figures converged toward Yun Chung’s side.
Nearly two hundred warriors clad in black robes.
The Dark Demons that Yun Chung had cultivated.
The enormous capital Hwang Gyeong Moon had invested in raising Deungryongdae—much of it had been diverted to nurture these Dark Demons instead. Their martial skill far surpassed that of Deungryongdae.
Hwang Gyeong Moon’s eyelids flickered involuntarily.
Many of these Dark Demons were faces he recognized. They were promising warriors of Paewang Fortress itself.
Though their titles were modest, they served as crucial links between Paewang Fortress’s leadership and the ordinary members of Nokrim.
Now Hwang Gyeong Moon understood how Yun Chung had seized control of Paewang Fortress. With these men serving as his eyes and ears, Hwang Gyeong Moon had been blind despite having sight.
The full weight of understanding crushed him. His limbs lost all strength, and he collapsed where he stood.
‘With my eyes wide open, I let my own fortress be stolen from me, all while laughing in ignorance. How foolish they must have thought me.’
Hollowed out by despair, Hwang Gyeong Moon closed his eyes.
How many of Nokrim’s mountain strongholds had been infiltrated by the Demon Cult? He could not say. Perhaps only a fraction. Perhaps far more than he imagined.
He had no idea where to even begin.
Even as Hwang Gyeong Moon surrendered to his despair, Yun Chung and the Dark Demons kindled their killing intent.
Their murderous aura was so overwhelming that the Nokrim warriors nearby recoiled in terror.
Yun Chung pointed a finger at Dam Ho.
“Kwon Ma…… Your hollow reputation will not save your life. You die here. Now……”
Whisper-whisper!
Before his words had finished, the Dark Demons surged forward to encircle Dam Ho.
For thirty long years, they had trained in the shadows, perfecting the Demon Cult’s martial arts. They had always yearned for daylight, for the honor of fighting beneath the Demon Cult’s banner.
“I will kill you here and now, and we shall rejoin the main force. Soon the world will be one beneath the Demonic Cult. Be grateful to serve as the first sacrifice in that great endeavor. You will……. Gahhk!”
Boom!
In that instant, an explosion erupted, and five or six Dark Demons flew backward. Dam Ho had unleashed the Breaking Star Hammer.
Dam Ho hurled himself toward Yun Chung.
“You talk too much.”
The Dark Demons moved to intercept him.
Clash!
The blades in their hands glimmered with a cold light.
Demon of Authority and Dark Demons.
The battle for Nok Rim’s fate had begun.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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